


shitty days begin with sunny mornings

by exhaustion



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 18:31:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5836258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exhaustion/pseuds/exhaustion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mayuzumi just wants to punch a wall, except, his knuckles would hurt, so he lashes out at the unsuspecting goldfish on Akashi's desk instead.</p><p>(Or the countless times where he looked Kuroko's way, but their gazes never met. Since Kuroko was busy staring at something else.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	shitty days begin with sunny mornings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anewtinystory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anewtinystory/gifts).



> note to vice: this is an alternate route drabble for shgtc this the first time i wrote something other than my main shitping i defied my own rules you better be grateful merry christmas happy new year belated && im a late piece of shit enjoy

  
A _bitter_ smile creeps up Mayuzumi's face, because ah, this is a really wonderful way to start off the morning. The moment he walks into the kitchen, he discovers with horror that the fridge is empty. On other days, it wouldn't have been a problem but today is Sunday, so he just can't take a trip to the next supermarket to buy some new ingredients. Which means– jesus effing christ, Akashi has to eat instant food for today. You might think that's not too big of a problem and he shouldn't sweat the small stuff but there's no way another person can understand the deep agony that cripples Mayuzumi from the inside everytime Akashi thanks him for the shitty meal and smiles as if it is the best breakfast ever.

And way to terrify him more, he is met with Aomine's dick wobbling before his eyes when he turns around the corner to get some canned tomato soup.

The dark-skinned man senses Mayuzumi's presence and stops sipping from his milk. They exchange murderous glares- or better said, Mayuzumi is sending them and Aomine merely stares back in irritation, not knowing what he did this time to deserve this treatment.

Their staring contest is rudely interrupted when Aomine hears an all too familiar sound ( a really blood-chilling one ) buzzing around his ears.

//

Although Kuroko Tetsuya was not as popular as his older brother, he was still very loved by the people from his kingdom. They admired the young prince for his brave acts, just like slaying the dragon that vandalized the villagers, or how he single-handedly took down a whole bunch of violent bandits.

And for his good looks, of course.

One day when he was on patrol with his knights, he hears a blood-curling scream, followed by loud glass breaking. Alerted, he wields his toy axe and charged forth.

After entering the room where the loud cries of desperation originate from, he lays eyes on a creature with smoke coming out of its nostrils, horns sticking from his chest and a teary-eyed princess trapped under its eight legs.

Kuroko widens his eyes. What in the seven's heaven is this monster doing in here?

He backs away, ready to get his ass out of here and back into his safe chamber, there is no way he could emerge victorious from a battle with this hideous creature. But running away would taint his good reputation as a royal hero, so he gulps his saliva down and grips his weapon before running towards the monster with a manly roar. His willpower and touching backstory will be the key to defeat the monster, no matter how strong it is.

Unfortunately, before he could attack, a frying pan came flying out of the nowhere, sending him to the stars.

And in that moment, his eyes shot open.

Kuroko's chest heaves up and down, forehead shiny with sweat as he hastily takes a quick survey of his surroundings.

//

There are a few things you should know about Kuroko Tetsuya.

01\. Kuroko has a lot of nightmares.

02\. He likes to take quiet walks along the beach alone

03\. He wants a dog.

04\. He is a man of short stature and even shorter words, but when he's sick he just won't shut up.

05\. He's sure monsters don't exists, and the scenario he had to witness was nothing but a mere fabrication of his mind. A dream, to be precise, and a really stupid one at that. Kuroko is definitely not a prince, was never one, nor does he ever want to be one.

06\. But for some odd reasons, he can still hear the awful screaming.

The boy runs his tongue over his dried lips and tries to pay no attention to the annoying yelling. He switches into another position to face the window, pillow now pressed against his ears to block out the damn screeching. Yes, he's just going to ignore it and go back to sleep. Hopefully, this time, he'll dream of something pleasant instead.

The golden sun rays escape from the thin gaps of the baby blue curtains that haven't been pulled over properly, shedding some light into the once dark bedroom.

And mocking Kuroko with its brightness.

Kuroko grimaces at the thought of leaving the warmth and comfort his bed provides him, but the screaming doesn't want to stop.

So there we have a cold and slightly irritated Kuroko waddling down the halls.

He rubs his eyes, trying to walk with quiet steps to not wake anyone up but who was he kidding, the noise must have done the job already. He descends the stairs and creeps into the kitchen, with his hair sleep-tousled and his glare set to murderous.

He has already identified the voice as Aomine's and he's ready to make his best friend pay for waking him up so early.

Though, it is still sort of hard to be intimidated when he’s swearing nothing but a huge sweater with a kitten imprinted on the front, and Seijuro's slippers on his feet.

Kuroko looks around the room, which by the way looks like it has been a victim of hundred frat parties. Couch flipped over, dirty laundry everywhere, small mountains of salt laying on the floor and Mayuzumi looking like his last faith in humanity has been taken away from him.

Akahi also appears next to Kuroko moments later, blinkig through droopy eyes and trying to understand the situation at hand. Which is practically impossible, Mayuzumi snorts, because Akashi without his morning coffee is utterly useless and can be dumped into the ditch.

Even Mayuzumi himself doesn't understand why this is happening right now.

//

“KILL IT! SEND IT BACK TO HELL-” Aomine yells into Mayuzumi's ear, probably worsening the other's hearing by 50 years, and Mayuzumi grits his teeth, shoving Aomine away from his drums, “Fuck off, please,” he grits through his teeth, and proceeds to grab the closest thing to him, which happens to be a pair of dirty boxers lying atop the kitchen counter.

He stares at the disgusting piece of cloth in his hand and his face loses color.

 _God... Oh god. Please tell me this is not true. God_.

God didn't hear him.

The underwear doesn't disappear.

He grabs Aomine's arm, voice laced with venom and eyes spitting flames while he grits out every syllable, “I can't stress this enough-”

However, Aomine is far too gone to listen, there are more important things to take care of right now, like the huge bee flying across the room and making it a living hell for him.

He plucks the boxers from Mayuzumi's grasps and throws it at the monstrous creature.

He misses.

//

The bug has stopped all its activity and is currently laying leisurely on the red polyester carpet. Not too far away, a pissed Mayuzumi is ducking behind the flipped couch with Aomine sticking to his side.

“I have a plan,” Aomine whispers, eyes not breaking away from the bee. He pulls his knees closer to his chest and hugs his legs as he analyzes the pros and cons of his plan. Pros? He'll get his peaceful life back. Cons? Absolutely nothing, so Mayuzumi doesn't have a reason to decline, right?

“Does that include me burying you? If not, I am not interested,” Mayuzumi sighs, oddly mimicking Aomine's sitting position for no damn reason.

“No, no. Listen, you're not even listening to me.”

“Don't care.”

“ _Listen_ ,” Aomine extends his hand to retrieve a rope and takes a small apple out of his hoodie pocket, showing both of these items to Mayuzumi.

Mayuzumi stares at him, poker-faced.

“And what does it accomplish showing me these things?” He puts emphasis on each word, as if he is trying to suppress his anger, as if he's trying to not shove the apple down Aomine's throat.

“Look, we need someone to distract it. When it is, I will kill it. You're gonna be the bait. I'll tie you up like a juicy piece of meat and stuff this-” Aomine wriggles the apple, “-into your mouth.”

Mayuzumi blinks. It's not like he doesn't want to punch Aomine, he simply can't bring himself to. Never in his life has he been this dumbfounded, _not even_ when Hayama taped a chicken nugget on his mock exam to bribe the prof into giving him an A, not even when Hayama stormed into the hospital yesterday, wailing and getting Mibuchi smooching him like a mother hen. Apparently he followed Nebuya to the gym and dropped his weights on his own toes when he wanted to show off his strength.

Mayuzumi never thought he'd meet someone other than Hayama that could silence him in less than five seconds, but everyone loves to prove him wrong.

Seriously, what kind of traumatic event does Aomine share with bees.

Aomine tilts his head, seemingly waiting for an answer from the frozen man. He waves a hand in front of Mayuzumi's face, but he gets no response.

“Hey, hey. What's up with you bastard. Answer me,” The dark-skinned boy grips Mayuzumi's shoulder, shaking the other.

Mayuzumi has already snapped out of his shock daze at this point. He sucks in a deep breath, contemplating whether he should strangle Aomine with that rope (which he can't) or if he should just escape before it gets nasty for him (he definitely can do this), but Aomine doesn't want to loosen his grip on Mayuzumi's shoulder.

He frowns.

“Like hell I will. You're giving me a headache. Let go.”

Aomine indeed complies to the request and stops a few seconds later to squint his eyes, but Mayuzumi doesn't get a chance to bounce right out of the situation he got dragged into.

“Woah. You actually look really hot up close.”

Another reason why Mayuzumi dislikes Aomine is that he will say stupid things at the speed of light and generally shouldn't be exposed to the public.

_What the actual fuck._

The room drops into silence.

Aomine stares.

Mayuzumi stares even more.

Both boys look at each other like they just woke up naked on a bed after a one-night stand and definitely regret everything that happened.

Bee-kun has already left through the window, he couldn't handle the awkward tension in the air, so he soared up the sky and breathed in the fresh scent of ocean once more before flying home to his wife and kids.

//

Mayuzumi thinks the universe is out to get him. Yeah. He stands in the middle of a rowdy crowd inside the mall, holding at least seven plastic shopping bags, and nothing in this world can lift his mood anymore.

There is nothing that he hates more than going on a shopping hunt for clothes when it's near Christmas time. The endless waiting line, the overplayed pop songs blasting from the speakers, the annoying saleswomen with their fake smiles stalking him and throwing endless outfit suggestions at his face before he even gets the chance to exhale, and in the end he spends his whole cash for things he won't ever be wearing again just to get rid of the employees.

He'll nevet have pleasant memories if shopping and clothes are in the same sentence.

But he had no choice but to follow, because friends _, who he definitely wanted to see_ , cornered him inside his own house and successfully got Akashi and Kuroko on their side, and so he had to tag along. Speaking of them, Mayuzumi averts his attention to anything else but his empty wallet, and spots Akashi and Kuroko inside a shop, smiling and looking like they are having a better time than he does.

Honestly, these two are so disgustingly in love, he doesn't understand why they still label themselves as friends. The thing he doesn't understand even more is that, Akashi Seijuro, seemingly has some hots for Aomine Daiki.

Mayuzumi doesn't like it when these two names are in the same sentence either.

He despises Aomine with every single of his cells and it pisses him off to no end when he sees Aomine staring at Akashi as if he's the last biscuit on the plate, he hates it when he sees Aomine's lap underneath Akashi's head instead of Kuroko's, or when he catches a whiff of Akashi's cologne on places where it doesn't belong – like in Aomine's room or his T-shirts, whereas Kuroko's clothes always smell of conditioner. Sometimes, they also reek of cheap booze and even cheaper company, but Mayuzumi doesn't want to think about the reason why.

Mayuzumi pushes past a few girls and enters the shop. He leans his back against a wall and slumps down, now observing them in a non-creepy manner from a safe distance.

He's just watching out for them, alright.

//

“Try this.”

Akashi blinks, not emitting any kind of reply as he runs his eyes over to the material. Nonetheless, he ends up grabbing the jacket from Kuroko, which owned the same color scheme as his former basketball jersey, and he proceeds to extend the article to its full length before pushing hands in through the holes of the sleeves. He tilts his head when he finished.

“Why did you choose this?”

Kuroko steps closer to him, casually resting one hand on Akashi's shoulder as his other hand trails above Akashi’s right arm, moving upwards to rest lightly on the man's nape. He then leans in and encircles his arms around Akashi's neck, peering over his shoulders and pulling out the hood that has been tucked in from behind. Akashi follows Kuroko's movements with his eyes.

“Is this comfortable, Akashi-kun?” Kuroko asks quietly, his warm breathing tickling neck because of the intimate position they're in.

“... Yes.”

“Then let's take this. It looks good on you,” Kuroko concludes and pulls away, now standing face-to-face with Akashi.

The glow from the bright lamp on the ceiling shines on Akashi's face, highlighting a lot of details that Kuroko has never paid attention to, so his gaze lingers one or two seconds longer than usual, before he casts his face down to the ground.

Akashi's lips, although just very subtly, curve up to form a smile, as he stares back, with the equal amount of affection in his eyes.

//

“Hey, Akashi. Wanna buy some new basketball shoes?”

Mayuzumi feels his cheeks burn up as he witnesses, witnesses how Akashi turns away from Kuroko and directs his smile to Aomine without hesitation.

_... So fucking annoying._

“Yes.”

And it makes his blood boil even more as he watches Kuroko not showing any spec of emotions in response, doesn't seem to be bothered by getting ditched at all.

And he wonders, what is going on in Kuroko's head at the very the moment, as he needs to bear the sight of their backs getting smaller and smaller, until the two of them disappear into the crowd.

(It's supposed to be you, Kuroko.)

//

The day can't get any shittier. One second, Nebuya was dumping all his bags on him, telling him to watch over them with his life because he needs to take a crap, and the next moment Mayuzumi finds himself lost inside a foreign section full with little prepubescent girls running around.

He enters a shop and spots a huge ass candycane on sale. He contemplates if he should purchase it.

That'll go down Nebuya's throat.

//

“HEYYYYY, MAYUZUMI.”

Let me introduce you to the owner of this annoying voice. He is a honey-colored male that goes by the name Hayama Kotarou, and he is someone who has a fondness for shouting at Mayuzumi instead of speaking at a normal volume like everyone else.

Mayuzumi looks to the direction where the voice comes from, and sees Hayama running with full-speed at him.

And is that the candycane he didn't purchase earlier in Hayama's hand.

Mayuzumi prays that the heavens will give him the energy to shove Hayama away.

God didn't hear him again.

Both of his hands are getting weighted down by the shopping bags, and three teenage girls are blocking his only escape route.

_Fuck my life._

//

They are all gathered at Maji Burger for a snack after the long "shopping trip", or how Mayuzumi calls it, a waste of time and energy.

Nebuya is next to Kuroko on a booth while Mayuzumi is sandwiched between Hayama and Mibuchi.

“You always run away the moment we aren't looking, so this is necessary,” Hayama says, grinning.

Mayuzumi swears the next time they manhandle him like this, he will call the cops on them. Well, that’s what he says but they all know it's too much of bother for him.

Meanwhile, Mibuchi is staring holes into Kuroko's face. He doesn’t say a word, but there is a scary look of amusement his eyes that unsettles the younger boy. Mayuzumi senses Kuroko's discomfort upon getting stared down like that, and he sighs.

“Give it a rest, will you,” he takes the cold Coke bottle and presses it against Mibuchi's slightly rosy cheek. The man squeaks and procreeds to give Mayuzumi an earful, which the gray-haired boy deliberately ignores.

Again, he finds himself irritated and bothered.

_Why?_

Because of Aomine and Akashi.

They disappeared earlier to buy shoes, but haven't arrived at the meeting spot yet.

And now Kuroko is nowhere to be found, too.

He slams his drink onto the table and squeezes the empty plastic cup inside his palm.

“Such brute violence. Had a bad day?” Mibuchi overlaps one leg over the other and rests his elbows on the table, eyes studying Mayuzumi curiously, _knowingly_.

When Mayuzumi doesn't answer, the shit-eating grin on Mibuchi's face gets more apparent.

“It's because of that cute boy, yes? Kuroko his name?”

Mayuzumi's fist tightens, he wants to say yes, how much of a pain the ass Aomine has been, how Akashi's actions don't match his words and that he's becoming more and more hard to read. But especially, how Kuroko is still pretending as if everything is okay for him.

And that's what Mayuzumi does. It's uncharacteristic and unusual for him to spill the beans in front of his friends but the bottled up frustration from the countless weeks of only watching, just standing by the sidelines, has built up a very pissed Mayuzumi.

When he finishes talking, Nebuya crosses his arms, and Mibuchi looks thoughtful, maybe a little bit sympathetic.

Hayama continues to wriggle a long french fry in front of Mayuzumi's lips, oblivious to the sudden change of atmosphere at the table.

“But why exactly are you so mad about this? Like, it doesn't have anything to do with you? You usually don't like getting involved in these things either,” Nebuya says, throwing his empty burger wrappers on his tray and burps.

This hit a certain alarm inside his head. Mayuzumi widens his eyes.

That's right.

Why?

Why exactly is he mad? About what?

He thinks hard, and he decides, that it's because Aomine's a third wheel. He's the one that can't get a clue for fuck's sake; he's the one that's in the way of whatever they could be if he never stepped into the picture. Akashi is something like his best friend and Kuroko is one of the small amount of people who can get along with him without getting offended by his snide personality.

He just wants these two to get their act together already and be all over each other's faces. Not that he wants to see that, gross, he just wants to read his books in peace without thinking too much about annoying crap like this.

Plus, he doesn't understand why Akashi likes _Aomine_ , out of all people.

Aomine is the kind that lives the moment, makes rash decisions and worries about the consequences later while Akashi analyzes and does several hundred calculations inside his head beforehand.

Aomine is an idiot.

(It's not supposed to be like this.)

//

Mayuzumi's heart almost drops down to his stomach when Kuroko slurps noisly from a bottle of milkshake, interrupting his one-man dialogue and scaring the living shit out of him.

Where did he crawl up from?

_So, so annoying._

“I like the vanilla shakes from this place,” Kuroko speaks, holding the bottle into Mayuzumi's direction.

“I didn't ask,” he narrows his eyes, waiting.

“Mayuzumi-kun, do you want to try?”

“... No.”

Kuroko stands up, one hand placed on the table as he bends over, holding the straw with a one centimeter distance from Mayuzumi's lips. The older man sighs again, leans forward and bites in the straw, slowly sucking up some of the sweet drink and swallowing it in one gulp.

It is sweet on his tongue.

“It is delicious, right?”

Mayuzumi looks up, to see the usual blank expression gone, replaced by softened eyes and an overall happier face.

Annoying. Frustrating.

 _Pretty_.

//

Two days later, Akashi announces that he needs to attend some important meetings in Shanghai and of course, Aomine is accompanying him.

It will be one month.

Just great.

Mayuzumi's eyes immediately travel to Kuroko's side, and as always, the younger's face is void of any emotions.

//

“I understand,” Akashi ends the call with his father and slips his phone back into his pocket, “It appears that it's no longer necessary to wait for Nash's arrival. He is already heading to Shanghai using his private helicopter.”

“What an ass. Well, I prefer not sitting next to him on a plane anyway,” Aomine says, and bites his passport to tie his shoelaces.

Mayuzumi hands Akashi his luggage and Aomine swings his back over his shoulder, going ahead.

Akashi checks the time on his wristwatch before diverting his gaze to the boy standing behind him.

Kuroko hasn't said anything for the last hours, there is no change in his face— just like always, he's wearing that trade-mark pokerface of his. But today, it looks even looks blanker than usual. More empty, lifeless even.

“Are you feeling unwell, Kuroko?”

“No,” Kuroko shakes head and gestures Akashi to go into the elevator, where Aomine is already waiting for him, “Akashi-kun will miss his flight.”

Akashi opens his mouth, but closes it again.

“Right.”

He bids goodbye by brushing his hand over Kuroko's head as he walks past, dragging the heavy suitcase behind him. He hurries over to Aomine's, not looking back once.

So he doesn't see the clenched fists, the shaking shoulders; and the tears threatening to roll down sickly paled cheeks long after he departed.

Akashi doesn't.

But Mayuzumi sees it all.

//

A few days passed since the house got short of two people.

Kuroko pulls the blanket which was draped over his shoulders closer to himself, shivering as he opens the fridge. With one hand securely holding the blanket in place, his unoccupied hand searches for somethin to eat. Preferably something that doesn’t require any cooking skills (because he sucks at it).

White steam slithered into the open air as boiled water is poured into a bowl of instant noodles, filling it full. The smell of ramen embraces the kitchen.

Suddenly, a small click coming from the front entrance catches his attention. It sounds like a key is inserted and someone is entering the house.

Kuroko whips his head towards the door, alarmed.

“Relax. It's just me,” Mayuzumi steps through the door, arms carrying two big plastic bags. He pushes the door close with his elbow and dumps the bags on the kitchen counter.

Kuroko eyes him with confusion, but doesn't say anything.

The smell of ramen soon is overwritten by the food Mayuzumi cooked. He places some rice on a plate, and the side dishes into small bowls.

“... Is this for me?”

Mayuzumi doesn't utter a reply. He washes his hands and removes his apron before placing a familiar beverage of sweet vanilla milkshake on the wooden table.

It has been five days since Akashi left for China.

Prolonged periods of time without the redhead around allowed Mayuzumi to think further about his own actions, and even if the realizations are a huge blow to his ego, he still accepts them because let's face it, he never actually wanted Akashi and Kuroko to date or whatever.

He just liked the way Kuroko's straight face underwent a change and lightened up everytime Akashi came along. It was a refreshing sight, and made his shitty day somehwat better. And he just hated how that smile disappeared together with Akashi everytime Aomine showed up.

Simple as that.

He's just a poor, poor old man who's unfortunately caught some bothersome feelings and didn't enjoy to see Kuroko suffering silently, didn't enjoy to see Kuroko forcing himself to pretend as if it didn't hurt.

He's not continuing to depend on Akashi's presence to be able to catch a glimpse of Kuroko's different expressions anymore. No, not after what he saw on that day at the airport.

He never wants to feel like that again, so he'll act from now on and take matters into his own hands. He'll do things his way.

“The food will get cold, Kuroko. Quit staring and eat.”

Even if that means to walk 12 km to the next fast food place to buy the favorite drink for Kuroko. And also getting mistaken as a loanshark by an old lady that walked around with a gun to vengeance her dead husband.

But in the end, everything is worth the trouble.

“Yes, Mayuzumi-san.”

Because the brat is finally smiling again after five days of rain.

//

The next day Mayuzumi wakes up inside crumbs of oversalted chips and movie credits still playing on the tv. He doesn't know what to question first, like how long are these credits, how many people participated in this average horror movie? Or why a certain blue-haired boy is doozing on his lap. If his memories serve him correct, he fell asleep in his own room and not in the living room.

But he supposes it's okay, that he doesn't need to be cautious and can let his guard down. At least he can stay like this until Kuroko wakes up.

“Making me go through all this trouble until I'm spent and then using me as headrest, you sure have no shame,” Mayuzumi chides, but there is no bite in his words. He absentmindedly pokes the palm of the younger's hand, and Kuroko stirs, casually wrapping his fingers around Mayuzumi's index finger and clasping their hands together in the progress.

Warmth bubbles up his chest, and the room suddenly doesn't feel like ten degrees anymore. The hot sun rays peek through the curtains and the brightness shines right into Mayuzumi's face, mocklingly. He closes his eyes to avoid getting temporarily blinded as well.

Damn ball of fire.

Kuroko's lips curve upwards as if he heard Mayuzumi's inner complaint.

“Your hand is really sweaty.”

Mayuzumi squeezes Kuroko's palm a little bit tighter.

“Shut up and sleep.”

//

There are a few things you should know about Kuroko Tetsuya.

01\. He still wants a dog.

02\. He likes to take long walks along the beach. With Mayuzumi.

03\. His friend Furihata gave him a dog. Surely, Mayuzumi will be happy as well.

 


End file.
